Uh.. it's a bit of a read. So to regular members and everything, you might not want to read it as it's so frickin long.
To OP: Make sure you have time to read it, it's a long one.
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Honestly, I've been meaning to write out a post to the staff for a while, I just never got around to it I suppose. One of those things that I forgot to do. So why not do it now right?
This is for the whole staff to read. But that's not to say some of the members aren't awesome as well. It's actually mainly about all of GBAtemp, with the mods getting the spotlight.
I've been on forum boards since 2002 or so. I've been on my fair share. I've been on AdventChildren.net back in the day, AlternateAdventChildren.net me and a friend started after AC.net went to shit. I've been on KHI for the longest time racking up more than 11,000 posts, I've been on GameTrailers forums too. And while you may think that this site isn't really all that different from those, it actually is.
On all of those forums, the staff has been lackluster. They never really took their job seriously. They'd abuse their powers, or not use them at all. They'd play favorites. Rarely delete posts and close threads. Those sites went to crap because it was nothing but flamewar after flamewar after flamewar. Or if you spoke bad about one thing, the staff would single you out and basically put you on the blacklist, and then you'd be posting with a target on your chest and they'd find some way to ridicule you whether it by editing your posts or changing your username or signature or profile details.
I was reluctant to join GBAtemp at first, I'll admit. The first flashcard I had was an R4 SDHC that I received as a Xmas gift about 2-3 years ago. And I didn't know a thing about flashcards. I didn't know what .nds was, I didn't know a thing about patching. Hell I didn't even know what "root" meant. I thought I had the top of the line card. Then Mario and Luigi 3 came out. And all of a sudden, I couldn't play it. I googled "how to get Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story to work on R4SDHC", and it lead me here.
I'll admit, at first, I didn't know a thing about this site. I thought it was just one of those forums that becomes cluttered and threads disappear within a day. A site where the staff pretty much lets everything goes. And to be honest, I haven't had the best history with the staff of sites. Mainly because they never paid any attention to the members when it came to suggestions, or complaints, or anything like that. And maybe that's how the staff of GBAtemp actually is behind closed doors, they're all laughing at us, but the thing is they don't go out of their way to make someone look like a dumbass or a retard like other forums I've been on.
When I first joined, I was reluctant to post. I thought I'd just make an account, and then I would forget all about this site unless I needed a hack to play the latest games on my R4 SDHC. And it was like that for a couple months or so, I won't lie. Then one night, I decided to log on, and I seen a thread where a bunch of mods was posting. I was impressed, and felt like I could really fit in here. I gave it a shot, and wouldn't you know, 3000+ posts later, here I am still, posting, and loving the site.
The one thing that I love most about the staff is simple: they don't play favorites. Which is what I found to be the case with the previous forums I was on. Let's be honest, on forums, there's always someone who's popular, who can get away with everything, and when reported, the staff "warns" them. I put that in quotations because I mean it in a sarcastic way. And, at least in my mind, this site has it's fair share of "cool people", like Monkat (no hard feelings brahski, you're just an example, everybody loves you). Even if he does something wrong, the staff actually punishes him. They put all of us members on equal grounds, nobody gets treated special, nobody gets treated worse, everybody is equal.
I haven't exactly done a whole lot to help this site out. Though when ShopTemp was actually selling stuff, I was a huge contributor and helped raise a lot of sales. Not the highest, but a lot more than the average user on here. Which was odd for me, because usually I never really take part in that sort of stuff. But I felt that I wanted to help GBAtemp going, help keep it the way it is. It was the least I could do.
When it comes to the staff, I haven't really associated with all of them, or any of them a whole lot. I just follow the rules (well I try to at least), and I try to have a good time. When I first spoke with Vulpes, I thought "oh great, here's someone who's obviously older than me, and is going to talk down to me as if I'm a child". But that wasn't the case at all. Sure he spoke more maturely than me, but that's just because of me, I'm not the most mature person ever. Or p1ngp0ng when I complained to him about a certain member (who to this day I have ignored and choose to ignore) multiple times. He didn't tell me "you know what, get over it. Stop pm'ing me".
I'm being completely serious here, the staff of gbatemp is probably the best staff that I've encountered. They do an amazing job in keeping the boards clean, and an amazing job in bringing the members happiness, fun, and all of us together. I was a mod on KHI, so I know how hard it is to keep boards clean, to keep deleting posts, threads, and everything, and have people complain about you. And the fact that I haven't had any problem with a staff member yet (I'm not afraid to speak out and complain and bring problems to the attention of all the members), just shows how amazing of a job I think they're doing.
So heres to the staff *raises pint of beer*.
You guys are doing one hell of a job. You guys have impressed and continue to impress me each and every day. And here's to hoping that you guys continue to do an amazing job in making this the best site I've ever been part of.
